martinmauger

Speaking for myself I look in several times everyday often whilst supposed to be working, don't post much as without a team of my own I have a somewhat helicopter view of the sport. I do keep in touch with occurances with who is doing what & have TV fixtures & the meets I hope to make it to written up on my wallplanner, I'm very much looking forward to the new season. Still a great sport, Star was on time this week too so all is well😀.....

Speaking for self, I much prefer physical copies of magazines as I spend most of my working day staring into monitors, online stuff is great when it works. When it works. The Star is a great, tho not perfect magazine, there is more foreign news by necessity as with quite a few clubs sadly closed in the UK it follows there is less UK news to report. The biggest problem area with Speedway Star is the distribution which can be pretty random, after weeks of being on time so far in 2025 my copy has been late the last 3 weeks, regular post arrived, still not received this week's 13 March issue, tho was on sale in Asda....

Speaking as I find (as always) my Star has been on time at least the last 2 weeks, poss even 3 but I was away one Thursday, so YAY !😀. Post in Hull is also pretty random, stuff arrives when it arrives....

Been told the same, also the wrapping itself my brother who works in motor industry says parts deliveries in such packaging is often lost & delayed, no probs with letter size, A5 & A4 envelopes, boxes or jiffy bags / padded envelopes. No Star for me as yet, ish W/E 11-1-25, wanted something to read so tried Asda, Tesco, WH Smith & 2 wee papershops; no joy....

Recall reading at least one other team, coulda bin Poole ?, were rewarded with a holiday by their promotion. The late Len Silver often took his riders on skiing holidays. Getting to the (prob intended) point: give the team finishing top a trophy: League Winners, then play off winners a trophy also: League Champions = everyone happy.😀 "Simples", as a certain meerkat would say😉....

Spreaking as I find: to be fair it was printed in the week afore's ish that current mag, w/e 28-12-24, would be on sale from Friday onwards, 'subbed' issues delivered 24 hours later. Sadly I've had the odd 'Star go missing myself, but whenever I've phoned Dave Fairbrother (a man of few words who gets things done) at Pinegen, 'Star Distibution dept., he has always posted me a replacement asap. During one 'Dude, where's my Star ?' (see what I did) chat he was also frustrated over copies going missing, and revealed the problem is much less prevelant than at one time. Speedway Star remains a top quality publication covering our great sport and, as I've alluded to before, it's important we support the magazine, and our teams / tracks, as without drawing pictures, speedway needs all the support it can get. And, no, Dave didn't ask me to say that, though I promised I would....

Also prob some posters, like me, who read the forum everyday but don't necessarily have time to chime in or new info to contribute....

Joe Owen, early in his career had the nickname 'Tazmanian Devil' the way he twisted all over his bike with plenty of elbows out. His style calmed down quite a bit & he became a well capable rider in 1978 raising his match ave. to above 9pts before his first terrible action at Hull riding in a meaningless 2nd half race....

Indeed, All The Very Best To All In Speedway For 2025. And (don't wanna preach to ya people, no, no, no) but if at all possible: attend your local track, and also others, or subscribe to the BSN or club feed, buy a programme & maybe club merch & also buy the Speedway Star. Discuss, criticise & complain, and also praise, (as we all love to do) by all means but try to support speedway in general. 'East Yorkshire based nutshell': when Hull closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18 teams (36 in total) with prob a few 'inactive but possible to re-open' tracks. End of 2024 we have a total of 16 +/- in the entire country, allbeit with a few 'inactive but possible to re-open', Bradford, Buxton, Coventry (hopefully) & Mildenhall immediately spring to mind. Don't think I need to draw pictures, but try to Support Speedway in 2025....

Similar situation in Hull; plenty of land inside and just outside city boundries, but literally ACRES of it just a couple of miles to the the North and to the West, but it's all owned by someone, just sitting on and it biding their time....

Can reccomend this, when I was way younger my Dad took me fishing to Filey, North Yorkshire, this woulda bin late 1970's / early 1980's ?, & I was delighted to discover sand racing was taking place - who knew ? I had just got into speedway a few previous years ago & recall there were different classes: grass / sand track bikes, Moto-X, sidecars, diff engine capacities, etc. Recall one guy seemed to be in almost every race, we watched him & he just re-fuelled & went straight again. Speaking to him afterwards he told us he rode a 250 so could compete in many more classes (250, 350, 500, unlimited, etc) so more skids for his buck. One last thing: we know how a speedway track changes so rides different as a meet progresses (dries out, dirt moves, etc) well the Filey track actually changed shape as the tide came in, from a big 'Belle Vue shape', towards to the end was a long 'sausage-shaped track', imagine, say, IOW's straights with Lakeside's bends. But, yeh, a good day out, reccomended. FOC too....

(Tis the weekend so I'm in a funny mood) My favourite shovel is the Spear & Jackson no.3, there have been reports of handles breaking off but I still believe it to be a fine shovel. ... Courtesy Ripping Yarns Series 1 Ep2: The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite 😀 https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr.nrDQ2kFnAwIA2t5LBQx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj/RV=2/RE=1733578705/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dHlWbcQ0iQiQ/RK=2/RS=YSEvzjteue_6uWW0w.xol098d6w-

Good stuff for Matej, happy to stand corrected, as we need our info to be right. Right ?...

Jumping in quick re: Zagar, think I read in the 'Star a few weeks that Zagar is either 'no longer an active rider' or 'is semi-retired', not been able to find the article again but think that's pretty much what was said, so he's poss out of the picture anyhoo....

Yeah very smart bike, good that it gets ridden too....

Good stuff....

Thanks for that Deano, makes sense now, 'mystery' solved, as with many things in speedway: all just to do 4 laps in (still) 60 secs or so.....

Are the Monarchs & Academy teams both defo good to go for 2025 & beyond ? Not being 'a negative ninny' but seem to recall there was some doubt over the future availability of Armadale & the Edinburgh management were reported to be looking for a new site elsewhere & a new ideal location fell through at the 11th hour recently, speedway can ill afford to lose anymore clubs....

Also I've noticed what appears to be a new design of wheel rim & hub used by Martin Vaculik & a few others: the spokes hook in 'lugs' mounted on the rim and the adjustment of spokes for tension & trueness of the wheel is at the hub, as opposed to being the other way around as has always been the case. Literally don't understand this; same design but different method of assembly there doesn't seem to be any less spokes, tho the spokes themselves do look a little thicker, so can't see any benefit i.e. lightness or strength....

Sad news, the sport has lost another old-school promoter & more importantly a true showman. In the mid-1980's, when the Boulevard had closed & before Craven Park opened for speedway, in between coach trips the Hull Speedway Supporters Club held regular get-togethers & often invited guest speakers; promoters, riders, team managers, etc. Len Silver was one such guest and very entertaining & interesting he was too. All were offered travel expenses most didn't accept anything, Len flatly refused to take a penny saying "save your money, put it towards a bus trip to a speedway meeting". He likely had business in the area anyway, I don't know, but it struck me that there was a guy from all the way from down south come to chat with us northerners brought together by the sport of speedway. RIP Len....

He's a good egg is Dave Fairbrother, a man of few words who gets things done - he's great, as posted you do get a bit embarrassed making one too many Friday phone calls "er I'm afraid my Speedway Star hasn't arrived...". Thing is the internet connection / wi-fi is so hit & miss in these parts due to the partial upgrading of the network to fibre optic, much prefer paper hard copy anyhoo....

Always watch this prog couldn't believe my eyes, they bought a 'grasser' rolling chassis once, also sold to Hagon Shocks, their bikes / cars almost always start easily after 'just new fuel & maybe a spark plug', the ep is repeated on Quest this Saturday at 9pm, speedway bike part could be 9.30....

This ^^, except other our mail arrives as normal, think the problem is the wrapping. Missing issues never turn up if not delivered by Friday, phone call to the office (before 2pm) results in a copy arriving, in brown envelope, 1st post the very next day. Late again BTW....

Egon Muller won the 1983 World Final in Norden, Germany riding an early GM that was originally loaned to Dave Jessup. Doubt the engine was over-sized but Egon himself admitted he'd been given all the help he needed; unlimited practice on the then newly revamped tack, also 'road testing' of his bike on public roads (!) often chased by the cops. He made everyone look silly that day winning with a full 15pts, only Hans Nielsen gated on him but Egon came through to win when Hans suffered an EF or maybe threw a chain. Seen a video of Egon's arrival at the meeting, just him, son Dirk, the one bike & minimal of kit just kit bag & the one tool box. Apparently he helpfully advised on the re-shaping "like a smaller longtrack", preparation before & during the meeting & there are certainly photos of him indulging 'serious gardening' literally crouched down examining the surface, trowel in hand. These days by comparison, riders just get on with it. Regarding cheating the only story I have personal experience of is a guy I bought some speedway merch from telling me he was working with a 'top division heat leader' [name obv redacted] on a traction control system built into the ignition & clutch. It would produce a slight, undetecable misfiring so as to prevent tyre slip & the rider concerned would then go on to 'wipe the floor with everyone' Don't think anything came of it as the rider concerned it still riding today but his form is pretty the same, much no better & no worse & he doesn't ride in the GPs. Such a system would be illiegal & therefore cheating as, I forget the actual ording, but a speedway bike requires a manual clutch, with no automatic limited slip mechanism other than the rider 'feathering' or slipping the clutch by pulling in the lever slightly, which can only be fully disengaged by pulling in the lever on the handle bars....

The above is known to be true. Without checking think Kroeze score his '21' in 1976 so a decade later, defo made a bit speedway news at the time.....